Ride 12 miles gaining 3,172’ at 5% average grade. The tunnel is 0.8 miles at about 5% grade, so you will be in a cycling danger zone for five to ten minutes. A word of caution: At mile 1.5 we enter the 0.8 mile long Yosemite Tunnel, a serious hazard to consider if you are traveling this route by bike from Yosemite Valley. There is a gift shop and store at Glacier Point. There is no water from the Valley floor for 24 miles to the Glacier Point Store, so come prepared with plenty of water and provisions for the several hour, 24 mile journey. The high point of the climb is a couple miles before Washburn and Glacier Points, but we strongly recommend continuing the journey to the end, which includes riding your bike the short distance (100 yards or so) from the Glacier Point Gift Shop and Store to Glacier Point. Ride 25 miles gaining 4,585’ at 2.4% average grade. The distance of the 5 bike climbs in and around Yosemite NP from Yosemite Valley. ĬYCLING YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: TOP BIKE CLIMBS IN YOSEMITE There are four entrances to Yosemite National Park: (a) Northgate - Groveland - Highway 120, (b) Southgate Highway 41 - Oakhurst, (c) Eastgate - Lee Vining - Highway 120/395, and (d) Westgate - Highway 140 - Mariposa. At 600–4,000 m, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here. With its 'hanging' valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciation. Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California. The park was designated UNESCO World AHeritage Site #308 in 1984 with the following description: On average, over 4,000,000 people visit Yosemite annually (a record 5,000,000 visited the park in 2016). Yosemite National Park is made of 748,436 acres and spans four California Sierra Nevada counties (Toulumne, Mariposa, Mono, and Madera). Later, naturalist and environmental philosopher John Muir successfully encouraged congress to establish Yosemite a national park in 1890. Galen Clark (“Guardian of Yosemite”), and other explorers and naturalists lobbied President Lincoln to protect Yosemite Valley, leading to Lincoln sign the Yosemite Grant in 1864. 1, 1890), but it served as the catalyst for the formation of the US National Park system. Yosemite was the third National Park to be established (Yellowstone in 1872 Sequoia Sept. However, we experience these dangers daily on our roadways and we feel that the freedom available to the cyclist navigating the park (stopping almost anywhere we choose, crossing to the opposite side of the road, going as slow as we like, etc.) outweigh the potential cycling hazards inherent at all tourist destinations.Įl Capitan Western Entrance Tioga Pass Hetch Hetchy Dam Glacier Point (middle)Ĭenter upper photo is from Tunnel view of El Capitan (left) and Half Dome (right).Ĭenter and bottom photos are from Washburn and Glacier Points The criticism with cycling Yosemite is the danger that can occur with distracted tourists driving fifth Wheels/RVs. Yosemite National Park may be THE jewel of the US National Park system, and in our opinion, is best and most efficiently seen by bike. Yosemite Valley - El Capitan center left Half Dome center, Bridalveil Falls right-center.īREATHTAKING! Enough said.
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